Comparing Costs - by popular demand

We originally set out to have a travel adventure for the first few years of our retirement and we are enjoying it. We spent the first year of our retirement in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico and are now living on the island of Grenada after spending six months on the island of Barbados. As in Barbados, everyone here in Grenada speaks English. That sure makes things a lot easier for us, but we did manage to get by with a little broken Spanish in PV. All three are good locations to live in as you can enjoy friendly people, fabulous beaches, sunshine, and laid-back tropical life.

However, there is a difference in the cost of groceries and consumables between all four places we have lived and they are analyzed in our "basket of goods" list.

For many years, Barbados has enjoyed being a world renowned tourist destination. This seems to have had an impact on rising inflation there. Inflation hit very hard over the last 6 years and was measured at about 18%, whereas the island of Grenada is only at about 4%. Canada's inflation over the same period is about 8%.

Everything from groceries, pantry items, electronics, furniture, appliances, cars, gas, almost all consumables... are much more expensive on these little islands in the sun as all items are shipped in and the cost of shipping and handling is passed on to the consumer. Some of this sounds a bit bleak but we thought we should share this as many of our friends have been asking about it. We didn't know any of this until we got here, as grocery related costs aren't available on line.

Even a man's haircut ranges in price. In Puerto Vallarta we paid 60 pesos – about CAN$4.50. The least expensive place in Barbados was Bds$50.00 - about CAN$38.00, and here in Grenada it is EC$25.00 or about CAN$13.00.

Cyndi and I kept track of day to day grocery costs in Canada (Superstore) and in Mexico (Mega and Walmart), and have prepared a basket of goods spreadsheet that compares those costs to the shopping we did in Barbados (Massy and Price Smart) and now here in Grenada (IGA at Spiceland Mall and the Grand Anse Food Fair).

The basket of goods is added up for each location and converted to Canadian dollars using April 2017 exchange rates...here is the comparison:

Canadian dollars

Canada $295.26

Mexico $159.66

Barbados $402.60

Grenada $331.68

Some items in the basket of goods are quite expensive here in the Caribbean and are reflected in the totals shown above for the same basket of goods. Potatoes, tomatoes, and red peppers are very expensive to buy in Barbados. They cost about the same in Grenada as they do when we shop in Vancouver. Broccoli and Cauliflower heads are expensive in both Caribbean locations - double of Vancouver. Cheese and beef products cost about 50% more in Grenada than they do in Barbados and in Vancouver.

Many items in Barbados are double, or triple, the cost of shopping in Mexico (some are even higher), and some are perhaps 50% or more in Barbados than we paid in Canada. Generally speaking, Grenada grocery shopping is also expensive but not quite as high as Barbados.

So far, the only things we have found that is not expensive is the cost of renting an apartment, and the cost of beer and rum. They are about the same as what it cost us in Mexico, and much less than what we would pay in Vancouver. So, I suppose we should focus on being pirates!

Even though Barbados gets at least 8 or 9 hours of sunshine every day, they still run old fashioned diesel generators for much of their electricity demands. They do have some experimental privately owned solar energy fields providing power to a few lucky recipients, but the management and development issues are bogged down in politics. Grenada is in the same boat.

Barbados and Grenada electricity costs include an admin fee, maintenance costs of the system (charged as actual cost for using Kwh), and a fuel fee. In Barbados this adds up to CAN$0.56 per Kwh. In Grenada it is CAN$0.46 per Kwh. In Vancouver it is about $0.11 per Kwh. Running a/c is expensive so we are grateful for our ceiling fans. We have become acclimatized to constant room temperatures between 29 to 32 degrees C. Hopefully it won't be too hot here when August and September come.

Eating out is WAAAAAY more expensive in the Caribbean than in Mexico. Tourists arrive here on a constant basis and they come prepared to pay more. Typically, restaurant prices in Barbados and Grenada are double of what we would pay in Vancouver and perhaps four times what we would pay in Puerto Vallarta, although Grenada prices are a little more reasonable than in Barbados.

Here in Grenada in the Grand Anse area there are basically two shopping areas and we live close to both of them - our early favourite is Spiceland Mall. We are working on fine tuning our shopping habits so we can find our way here. In Barbados there were several bulk buy stores and big box grocery chains. There are deals to be had at all of them but we have generally found that “Price Smart” (a big box club similar to Costco) offers the best deals; definitely worth paying the Bds$50 annual fee for membership. In Barbados we also liked the A1 Carlton Grocery Store in Black Rock. The selection there reminded us of shopping at Superstore in Canada.

We have traded off some grocery items on our routine shopping list, and have gained others while trying to keep a workable budget. It's definitely a change in life style to live in the Caribbean.

Using the Smuckers brand strawberry jam as an example, in Barbados it costs the equivalent of CAN$17.00 per 250 ml jar, and yet costs only about $3.00 in Canada. Here in Grenada, the same jar costs only about CAN$6.50. Go figure.